The exhibition is held With Special Thanks ARTISTS BY COUNTRIES December 12 2018 March 25 2019 for the cooperation to: Austria – 2 Argentina – 1 Lessedra Gallery JAPAN ARTISTS ASSOCIATION Belarus – 1 25, Milin Kamak Street, Lozenetz FACULTY OF ARTS Belgium – 3 1164 Sofia, Bulgaria MARIA CURIE SKŁODOWSKA Brazil – 2 The project is presented UNIVERSITY Bulgaria – 21 on the web Lublin, Poland Canada – 4 www.lessedra.com Denmark – 3 link COMPETITION LEINSTER PRINTMAKING England – 3 STUDIO, Ireland Finland – 6 9TH LESSEDRA France – 7 INTERNATIONAL Germany – 7 PAINTING & MIXED MEDIA Ghana – 1 Publisher: LESSEDRA Gallery COMPETITION Greece – 2 & Contemporary Art Projects Hungary –1 The Catalogue presents 25, Milin Kamak Street, Lozenetz Iceland – 1 1164 Sofia, Bulgaria Iraq – 1 165 Artists Tel.: (++359 2) 865 04 28, Ireland – 1 (++359 2) 866 38 57 Israel – 2 from e-mail: [email protected] Japan – 11 38 countries [email protected] Lithuania – 1 Concept for the book: Georgi Kolev©2019 Macedonia – 1 Mauritius – 2 Pre - press: Christophor Krustev©2019 Mexico – 3 Print: Stovi©2019 Morocco – 2 Slovenia – 2 The Netherlands – 6 Spain – 1 Norway – 5 Sweden – 6 Poland – 24 Switzerland – 3 Portugal – 1 Thailand – 2 Romania – 1 Ukraine – 1 Russia – 8 U. S. A. – 16 © Lessedra 2018 – 2019 INTERNATIONAL JURY Elmar Peintner, Austria First Prize Winner of the 8th Mixed Media

Alicja Snoch-Pawłowska, Poland ASSOCIATE DEAN FOR STUDENT AND EDUCATIONAL AFFAIRS at FACULTY OF ARTS, MARIA CURIE SKŁODOWSKA UNIVERSITY in Lublin

With the kind assistance of artists – students from MARIA CURIE SKŁODOWSKA UNIVERSITY HANNA POPRUHA KAMIL JERZYK KATARZYNA WOLCZYNSKA KINGA LEWICKA 2 RENATA GOGOL TOMASZ BELEW PRIZES

€FIRST PRIZE SIGUTE BRONICKIENE, Lithuania

Assonance I, 2018, Head made paper, Assonance II, 2018, Head made paper, Assonance III, 2018, Head made paper, Linocut, Metal, 15x15 cm Linocut, Metal, 15x15 cm Linocut, Metal, 15x15 cm DANIELA WOLTER, Germany

From the Cradle to the Grave I, 2018, Acrylic From the Cradle to the Grave II, 2018, Acrylic From the Cradle to the Grave III, 2018, Acrylic and Oil on Canvas, 7x7 cm and Oil on Canvas, 10x10 cm and Oil on Canvas, 15x15 cm THAMRONGSAK NIMANUSSORNKUL, Thailand PRIZES

SECOND PRIZE 3

€THIRD PRIZE Mountain to Wisdom, 2018, Silk Screen on Paper, 9,7x9,7 cm BERNADETTE MARECHAL, Belgium LUCILA VISO, France MASAKI MURAKAMI, Japan

Dans une tasse de café I, 2018, Mixed Untitled 1, 2017, Aquatint, 9x9 cm Media on Canvas, 15x15 cm Gray Grid 1, 2018, Scratch on Paper, 15x15 cm Alicja Snoch-Pawłowska, Poland, judging the works

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Elmar Peintner, Austria, judging the works Jury members HANNA POPRUHA, RENATA GOGOL selecting artists for the prizes JURY & PRIZES

Jury members KATARZYNA WOLCZYNSKA, 5 KINGA LEWICKA

Alicja and Elmar with the students in front of their special presentation The Jury announcing the Prize Winners

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Opening reception - visitors Konstantin Saupe, Deputy Head of Mission, Austrian Embassy Sofia looks happy to meet Austrian artist Elmar Peintner JURY & PRIZES

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Opening reception FEATURED ARTIST lery, the city galleries in Varna, Bourgas, Dobrich, Rousse, Pleven, Silistra, Kurdzhali, Smolyan, Plo- YORDAN KISSIOV, Bulgaria vdiv, Razgrad, Stara Zagora, Veliko Tarnovo etc., The Neue Meister Gallery in Dresden (Germany), the Museum of Fine Arts, Szczecin (Poland), as well as in many private collections in the USA, Italy, France, Greece, Germany, Sweden, Romania, Po- land, Cyprus and Bulgaria. Lives and works in the city of Silistra

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Born 1945 1964 graduated the High School of Arts in Sofia 1972 graduated the University of Veliko Tarnovo,

SPECIAL PRESENTATION SPECIAL Art Faculty, mural painting Since 1972 regularly participates in the National Exhibitions in Bulgaria and in representative shows of the Union of Bulgarian Artists abroad: Mexico, France, Russia, Italy, Egypt, Spain, Portugal, Roma- nia, Poland, Hungary, India, Germany, etc.

Works of Yordan Kissiov are in the possession of National Art Gallery, Sofia, Sofia Municipal Art Gal- Painting Installation, Windows, 2018, 296,7x99 cm Yordan Kissiov and the Love of Colors

Ion Popescu Brădiceni

Chronicle of Plasticity

Bulgarian painter Yordan Kissiov is indeed ostenta- tious. His work looks and reveals itself totally - all at once - as a whole. Yordan Kissiov, in his truly SPECIAL PRESENTATION unique, virtually unmistakable style, demonstrates his genius when he uses non-blacks (black and white) with a yellow triangle here and there, im- itating the shine of wood as a metaphor for life. However, transposed pictorially, these colors sug- gest a kind of spatially-visualized, three-dimension- al layout of shape, although a shadow creates the mystery necessary for a metaphysical perspective and the gently tactile meta-plasticity of flatness. 9 Obsession with the cube, with the geometry of vol- ume, leads its visual readers to an understanding Detail 1 Detail 2 of the assimilated drawing, but also to a certain semiotic state of the voids and fillings solved in the “brush”; although, I suppose, the artist replaced it with other working techniques, eminently post- modern and trans-modern. What fascinated me in Yordan Kissiov’s manner of manifestation is that he did not refuse the temptation to paint in the seri- alized, decorative, old-fashioned, cinematographic way updated for today. This ambient posture draws its receiver into a metaphysically implicit atmo- sphere; and within a linguistic and communicative, universal and permissive paradigm, it creates an expansiveness for any speaker of visual grammar and semantically non-predictive forms. Kiss” as a “gate of time”. Like Andy Warhol, Yordan Kissiov uses the principle of silkscreen, a tech- nique which allows the repeated multiplication of the motif (“Shadow of Flight” I, II and III, “Between Heaven and Water” I and II, “Storm”, “Reflection” I and II) and reproduces objects in their true dimen- sions (“Columns” I-IV, “House”). Yordan Kissiov’s artistic and aesthetic approach is characterized by a formidable love of color, by the way it congeals in a circularization of the basic idea: the birth, the genesis of the universe seen as concentric, in an endless rotation of reality around a nucleus, un- fortunately obscure and metaphysical today. In the Detail 4

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Detail 3 “Balkan” Pop Art

In the second part of Yordan Kissiov’s works, we are confronted with “pop art” (à-Andy Warhol). The painter gives shape to his reaction against the disappearance of the visible image and the

SPECIAL PRESENTATION SPECIAL voice of panoramic decoration. From Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg onwards, from Richard Hamilton and Eduardo Paolozzi, or from Patrick Caulfield, David Hockney, Pauline Boty and others, pop art puts emphasis on a kind of neo-pointillism, the use of colored spots, gestures and temporali- ty, flooding viewers with a lot of sensations. In this context, Kissiov offers the work “Non-Stop River” - an intertextual replica of Brâncuşi’s “Gate of the “Shadow of Flight,” the intrinsic technique of the painting insists on the floating of the feathers in at- Ion Popescu Brădiceni is Lecturer PhD, Doctor of tractive spots of purple, white, yellow, black, being philology at the University of Craiova, a teacher at in fact new meditations – impenetrable, playful but the University of Constantin Brâncuşi in Târgu Jiu, also profoundly communicative. the Faculty of Health Sciences.

That is, without imposing myself, my final con- English translation edited by clusion about the artist Yordan Kissiov - he is the Barry Cottrell, UK founder of a new visual paradigm, just as proud, artist, researcher and writer SPECIAL PRESENTATION symboloidal, synthesized, absolutely brilliant, as a Renaissance composer.

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Yordan Kissiov with the son Roman in front of his work in the exhibition 20 years earlier, 20 years later... ELMAR PEINTNER, Austria Presentation of the First Prize Winner of the 8th Mixed Media

manifestation of man and nature. My microcosmic examinations of shapes and forms are always part of something bigger, which speaks of many gen- eral situations from life and personal experience, and yet my keenly observed and precisely repro- duced analyses of human beings can also be seen as metaphor for an ever changing nature. It isn’t so much the naturalistic depictions of nature that are at the forefront of my work, but rather the attempt to reach into the physical and emotional make-up of man through the realism of the microstructures of the vegetative state. 12

Elmar Peintner Lassigg 35 A-6460 IMST

SPECIAL PRESENTATION SPECIAL AUSTRIA E-mail: [email protected]

Artist Statement

In all of my works I try to be a reflective observer of both man and nature, but I also want to be an artist for whom drawing always means challenging the Elmar Peintner with Konstantin Saupe, Deputy Head established boundaries and look beyond the simple of Mission, Austrian Embassy Sofia and Geotrgi Lessedra HUMAN BEINGS, NATURE, REALITY

Notes on the exhibition “Enigma” of Elmar Peintner Dr. Günther Dankl

Sitting in front of a mountain hut beneath cloudless blue skies and brilliant sunshine enjoying views over the distant alpine peaks does not, at first glance, seem like an ideal spot to compose a cri- SPECIAL PRESENTATION tique of Elmar Peintner’s exhibition. In surroundings like these it is just too simple to blot out the chaotic world of ongoing business and political upheavals, to cocoon oneself all alone inside a timeless, heal- ing devotion to all-embracing nature. FRAU HITT UND IHRE KINDER, 1979, Radierung, 49,5x61,5 cm Ironically then, it is precisely this panoply of na- on, cliffs and mountain ranges; and on the other, ture’s most elemental forms which jumps to mind, steady, unflinching visions of human attributes and literally forces itself into consciousness, as one human beings rendered by the selfsame eye, usu- 13 reviews the wide-ranging works of Elmar Peint- ally on primed, white undercoated paper or linen. In ner. On the one hand, the most minute structures b u n d l i n g t o g e t h e r s u c h p o l a r e x t r e m i t i e s , P e i n t n e r ’ s of microscopic nature are laid bare, weaving and dedication to the transforming power of art be- wending their way through his complete works like comes evident, as does his abiding attachment a red thread - lichen, leaves and stones, and later to overlapping and layered structures, hallmarks which have characterized the works of this artist, born in Zams in 1954, ever since his formal artistic education at the Vienna Academy.

Unlike his colleagues and fellow students of bygone days, numbering among others Siegfried Anzinger, Erwin Bohatsch, Gunter Damisch, Hubert Scheibl and Hubert Schmalix, who with increasing ardour turned to painting, thereby creating the wave which led to the so-called “New Painting” movement at the beginning of the 1980s, Elmar Peintner was en- CHRISTINA ALS PFLANZE VERKLEIDET, 1984, Bleistift und Aquarell, 11,5x19,6 cm items and puzzling combinations of animals and human beings.

“Enigma” - the title of the exhibition at the Ferdi- nandeum, Tirol’s State Museum - rightly draws our attention to that puzzle, the intrinsic mystery in the oeuvre of this artist whose 40 years of creative accomplishments are known far beyond the bor- ders of his homeland Tirol nowadays. It is worth recalling that “Enigma” was also the name given to a machine patented by Arthur Scherbius in 1923 designed and avidly deployed to encrypt German military intelligence communications during World War Two. And even though Peintner’s highly con- centrated vision is trained above all else on nature and human beings, there is still room in his opu- 14 Stine auf der Rutsche, 1983, Bl. Aqu., 32,2x19,3 cm ticed from the very onset of his art education which began in 1974 by graphic art and drawing, finding in a moving line the most appropriate, in fact the ideal mode of expression for his own personality. Only much later did he find his way to join together drawing and painting, using finely pencilled lines and water colours or egg tempera paints to prof- fer to the viewer’s eye a composite image of the SPECIAL PRESENTATION SPECIAL human condition and glimpses of nature which are designed not so much to please as to sharpen our vision. Each component encroaches and in- trudes upon its companion elements, thus articu- lating a far reaching, complex field of relationships in which troublesome explorations of nature and microscopic examinations of forms are accorded highly honoured places, accompanied by quotidien Radierung Krieg und Frieden the finely stenciled structures emphasize the un- derlying processes of change in a landscape, the former genre displays first and foremost the fields of contrast and conflict vibrating between people and nature, containing explorations, observations, vivisections and merger as methods of expression which have remained in evidence throughout his entire artistic career since then. The work known as “War and Peace”, which hails from 1975 and is SPECIAL PRESENTATION today as fresh and effective as it was back then, depicts a couple of geriatric-looking children at play in the midst of a landscape which has been destroyed by bombs. It is a world replete with fear and horror which Peintner stages, a world in which the borderlines between life and death have been cancelled, where people and nature are marked

Iris auf der Schaukel und Jutta 15 lent range of daring creations for an absurd-looking machine assembled from a long list of tiny compo- nents which resembles a kind of perpetual motion apparatus or peculiar contraption (“OE Nr. M 92”, 2013). It underpins still further the title of the exhi- bition.

Although the exhibition was not conceived as a ret- rospective show, it is nonetheless arranged auto- biographically. At the forefront it displays the artist’s graphic works, then draws the eye to his paintings, including a selection of his so-called “Nocturnal Pictures”. It begins with the earliest drawings and etchings, some of which hark back to his student days, and ends with his newest large-scale depic- tions of mountains. Whereas in the latter genre SELBST MIT WEINSTOCK, Bleistift und Eitempera around Frau Hitt which rivet the artist. For that reason it cannot be coincidental that the artist completed a series called “Stone Peo- ple” at the same time as this etching was carried out, then shortly thereafter laboured at so-called “landscapes of stone” - technically mature and meticulously executed drawings and etchings of cliffs and rock formations. The etchings “The Big Stone” (1976) and “Cliffs” (1977), for example, as well as “Drawing No. 115” and “Drawing No. 121” (both from 1981) bear witness to this attachment; they seem in the first instance to implement Adal-

Leopard und konstruierter Mensch im Raum, 2018, Bleistift, Eitempera bert Stifter’s ‘gentle law’ which he articulated in his indelibly by destruction and frozen torpor. foreword to the two-volume book of six short sto- The large-format etching called “Lady Hitt and her ries known as “Coloured Stones” published in 1853. Children” (Peintner’s graduation diploma piece, ex- Closer examination, however, shows that Peintner’s 16 ecuted between 1975 and 1979) is marked by a artistic vision of nature is only very tentatively re- similar feeling of something locked-into-place. The lated to Stifter’s, for whom nature draws forth from ancient Tirolean saga of Frau Hitt, the titanic queen human beings only what is good, pure, beautiful who offered a beggar a stone for his meal and was and truthful. Quite the contrary, the fastidiousness thereupon turned to stone herself, serves as liter- ary backdrop and point of departure for this work. However, Peintner refused to simply illustrate the contents of the legend; daring far more, he created an up-to-date viewpoint highly critical of modern

SPECIAL PRESENTATION SPECIAL society. In his version of the myth, he again draws images of children who are old and dotty before they even grow up and presents them in an arid, barren wasteland. Peintner thus links childhood and youth intimately to old age. Beyond that, the idea of being turned to stone embodies a trans- mogrification of life within the bounds of nature as well as the frighteningly close proximity of life,

nature and death. Those are the themes revolving Spielendes Kind und Trommler, Bleistift, Eitempera underlying Peintner’s “landscapes of stone” mani- fests threatening, divisive, skeletonising elements as well. At the forefront stands not a realistic ap- proach to nature or accurate depiction, but rather an attempt, employing the techniques of realism, to penetrate through the microstructures of or- ganic forms all the way to the physical and mental structures of human beings. “Nothing appears to be quite as constant and enduring to human be- SPECIAL PRESENTATION ings, nothing as immutable, as stone, cliffs and m o u n t a i n s ; a n d n o t h i n g b r e a k s d o w n u n d e r t i m e ’ s deterioration as readily as human beings, the sole creature who has a claim to understand time and whose awareness of it turns human life into an ‘ex- istence pointed at death’. To me, the two extremi- ties are like symbolic poles which commune inti- mately with each other: the structures and shapes of cliffs pointing out future life; ancient human vis- Gitti mit grossem Windrad 17 ages pointing out past life, death and petrification.” umnist Magdalena Hörmann in 1984 to crystallize (Elmar Peintner) “Petrification as the reality of life” her discussion of the first large cycle of Elmar Pei- was, understandably, the moniker selected by col- ntner’s works which was launched at the onset of his career upon completion of his studies, in the years between 1979 and 1985, accompanied by a series of public exhibitions. For example, the water- colour drawing “The Window” from the series called “Human Pictures” (1983) in small-photograph for- mat (13 x 18) stems from this period. It displays the face, hands and thorax of an elderly woman inside the body of a child who is gazing out a closed win- dow with a doll. Her visage is drawn with intense realism, the eyes stare at the viewer rigidly and life- lessly from behind huge eyeglasses. The childlike hands pressed against the windowpane together with the doll’s head combine to communicate an Jedesmal, wenn ich eine Nebenstrasse kreuzen musste, Radierung oppressive, nightmarish feeling which is difficult to From these early works, the wide arc of artistic shake off. It was during this same period that an- creations extends far indeed, over a series of “Na- other configuration of etchings were also executed ture Forms” and “Counter-Languages”, Peintner’s which are placed face to face by the artist with graphic protocols recorded on spotty foolscap of texts of literary authors whom he linked closely to the microscopic structures which can be discov- his “Human Pictures”, e.g. J. D. Salinger, Peter Ro- ered behind leaves, branches and bark, all the way sei and Ilse Aichinger. Handwritten excerpts from to the “poetic picture puzzles” (Edith Schlocker) their written works provoke a stimulating contrast which the artist has worked on since the 1990s, to the meticulously drawn etchings on the left side. usually combined with drawings and paintings. Originally conceived as a kind of extension and They contain reflections on human existence, en- deepening of the literary texts, they reflect and re- crypted in poetic ways by Elmar Peintner in works fine single moments or feelings from the texts in such as “Over the Roofs and the Houses” (1996) the other ‘column’ without appearing in the slightest and “Horse and Table Bearer” (1998), in which he to be illustrations. invites the viewer to actively participate. They elu- cidate the animal side of human beings; as well as a condition of being exposed and injured; as well 18 as thoughts on the nature of reality surrounding us; as well as scenarios which appear surrealistic but which upon closer examination reveal themselves to be views behind reality’s curtain, rather than of something specifically ‘beyond reality’. With con- summate craftsmanship, Peintner builds into them the finest possible layers of drawing and sparsely applied paint. The pictures thus evolve into images of the many layers of human life itself, which the artist depicts in formats large and small, often rich- SPECIAL PRESENTATION SPECIAL ly overlain with the metaphors and symbols which he adopts regularly. As of a timeline in 2002/2003, Elmar Peintner launches a series of so-called “Night Pictures” which is still incomplete. Far removed from even a whisper of illusion, they meld a neutral, dark, float- ing space of things both experienced and thought, things both real and imagined, into a roundup of Füsse und Federn, Bleistift, Aquarell richly contrasting and conflicting relationships. As if they had leapt from a dream, bodily, animalis- tic, physical things stand in stark contrast to the blue-black hues of dark night, which brings its own values and structures to bear. Thus, a discourse develops about what is human and what is mental awareness, as well as questions posed about how reality is perceived. Standing adjacent to this highly charged vision is SPECIAL PRESENTATION Peintner’s newfound love of nature per se, a paral- lel discovery which he depicts as a kind of hyper- realistic handwriting by means of finest imaginable pencil lines in large-format graphic works on white undercoated linen. Apart from works which inten- tionally build a bridge to the botanical structures in “Nature Forms” from the 1980s, they give rise to re- flections on the lapse of time which find expression in depictions of snow and rock. The huge moun- Kauernde und zwei Fische 19 tain landscapes which are the outcome pulsate in Univ.-Prof. Dir. Dr. Gert Ammann, Director of the a dialogue of black-and-white, light-and-shadow, in Museum Ferdinandeum in Innsbruck other words as a depiction of mountainous struc- tures reduced to subtle grey shadings and graphic Albertistraße 2a, A-6176 Völs, Austria cross-hatching, relating to the recesses between Phone: 01143 512 302119 them, rendered across spatial whiteness. Peintner’s 01143 664 9196061 immersion into the mountain world which unveils E-mail: [email protected] itself to him outside the windows of his atelier is, thus, not a romantic excursion, nor is it pathos-filled The presentation in the auditorium of the Museum exaggeration or transfiguration. On the contrary, Ferdinandeum is dominated by five large format the cool technical perfection of its implementation pencil drawings on primed linen. In these draw- brings about the requisite distance to permit the ings, Elmar Peintner includes the linen`s primary artist to pose and pursue the dilemmas of reality texture in his calculations as a basic element of without ever getting caught up in external patterns the drawing composition. Yet before all else the or niceties. viewer feels his tendency towards an analytical view of detail and his wrestling with the time con- merging of organic structures, but also a transfor- mation of nature into a perception of nature glide over the painting surfaces. One is reminded of an earlier work, “Nature”, for which Elmar Peintner re- ceived the Golden Füger Prize from the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna in 1978. “Nature”, living yet also amorphous nature, is something the painter carries deep inside himself, he has struggled with the subject over the course of many years, gaining new perspectives and fathoming new dimensions. “Nature” has become the supporting foundation of his work. For him it is always a matter of the breadth, yet also of the density of the creation, of the tension between complexity and space. The relationship between the drawing`s structure and the translucent picture carrier becomes especially

20 apparent in “Counter-Communications” of 1987: on Nacht, Jaguar und Maske, 2017, Bleistift, Eitempera old, handmade paper made from lined legal pads by Falger Paper Mills in Reutte, Ausserfern, he suming aspect of the work process. In the small takes up the line of the brown quill and spins tan- scale imagery, “traces of time” become visible or gles of nature. Elmar Peintner prefers fragments are at least suggested, thus making them grasp- of plants, mosses, shrubs, leaves, boughs as a able. Density and transparency, corporeality and subject, subtly drawn, meticulously developed in emptiness, the “designed” and the “undersigned” brushstrokes, concentrated into a diaphanous tis- determine his motifs. In this closely woven lattice- sue, as if discovered by coincidence… or was it work, forms, boughs, twigs, leaves and buds take indeed by design? The viewer isimmersed into a

SPECIAL PRESENTATION SPECIAL shape. The subtle, conscientiously lined up forma- microcosm of lush vegetation. A great deal of it is tions and overlapping brushstrokes allow the shape held fast, as if viewedthrough a microscope`s lens. to become palpable, the object`s plasticity is en- However, Elmar Peintner leaves the interpretation hanced through the build-up of the graphite ma- of the motifs to the viewer. Those motifs are drawn terial and the light-shadow areas. One form gives neither as a literal depiction, nor as a “portrait” of rise to another, untempered growth becomes evi- nature`s phenomena, rather, they have the feel of dent. The viewer “reads” the consequential brush- a kind of dwelling or grotto, one can almost sense strokes and imagery in the diction of constancy. the moldy odor or recall the incidents which awak- A probing of forms, a penetration of substance, a en conditions of decay at a city dump. On the one kneeling and the rhythmic movement of the horse hand, a certain “horror of a vacuum” reigns, while become one: a single unity. Inside and outside on the other, the mere asymmetrical position of the overlap, phases of time flow together. Static and motif dominates the picture carrier. The subjects flexible elements are blended. This holding fast often include a selfreflection of the drawer himself. of the courses of time can be felt, for example, The motifs offer themselves as self-interpretations, in the work “Chairs and the Old Wolf” from 1999. even as a mirror images and metamorphoses of Perseverance and departure, symbol of tranquil- the artist`s own ego. Reminiscences of great por- ity and symbol of aggressiveness are brought par- trayers of nature in graphic arts, painting and writ- allel to one another. A coming to terms with the SPECIAL PRESENTATION ten word are awakened. Memories of the high art constraints of life and society is tentatively groped of drawing of the Nazarenes, of the Romantics and toward. A great deal of autobiographical material the perfection of the Realists` way of looking at rings through the work. Elmar Peintner bringshim- the world are revealed. Tree studies by Ferdinand self into his work ever anew, with his body, his feet, Georg Waldmüller, nature depictions by Adalbert most of all with his drawing hands and his creative Stifter or minute interpretations of events in texts head. For this, nature is his eternal inspiration, in by Peter Handke dawn on the viewer as points of its evolution and, even more, the fading of nature. orientation. The reflection of Elmar Peintner the artist is evident 21 in many motifs. The “floating fish” at the MOMA produce a discrepancy between a real view of space and another plane inserted between the spaces: outlook and insight into a suite of rooms, the Baroque sculptured bust blended into that – present and past merge in an image locked in thought, overlays link the subject with a new real- ity. As the artist`s reflection, the introduction of his own feet striding over roofs has a symbolic effect: an external threat, but also an internal protection. Again and again, one encounters the horse and its relationship to the human being. For Peintner, it is a symbol of freedom, of work, of life itself, often a symbol of his own ego. The kneeling “table bearer” with the table grasped in outstretched hands has a running horse superimposed. The static element of Nacht, Fisch und Berg mit Schnee, Bleistift, Eitempera, 15x15 cm Elmar Peintner in front of the painting in- stallation of Yordan Kissiov THE WINDOWS explaining his professional positive impressions

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Marianna Gancheva from the National Radio interviewing Elmar Tatiana Harizanova showing to her works on the top of the wall SPECIAL PRESENTATION

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Opening reception - Georgi and Medea Yankova in front of the works of her friend Ben Charon from Hawaii SPECIAL PRESENTATION titled Spilling Light” in 2001 and has also been involved in several collaborative shows in London. CAROLINE HARTE, Ireland An ongoing theme in Caroline’s work explores people, birds and other animals in motion and Living and working in their relationships with each other. Bulgaria - the village of Rupkite Caroline had a solo photography exhibition titled “Straight from the Heart” in Chirpan Bulgaria in 2015. The exhibition travelled to London in 2016. She presented a series of color photographic work which was accompanied by a sound instilla- tion of the village sounds from dawn to dusk. That exhibition explored the inter dependency be- tween the people, animals and landscape in the village of Rupkite. Caroline has lived in Rupkite for the last four years and is particularly interested in the unique light in 24 the village and sees living here as a fantastic op- Artist’s Biography portunity to develop her work practice. She also runs a small guest house Lavender Lodge offering Caroline Harte is a Fine Artist and Photographer others a chance to explore the nature nurture in who was born in Ireland in 1960. the village and local areas. There is a film on you She completed a foundation course in Art and tube called Elemental / Caroline Harte describing Design in Ireland in the mid 80’s and then went her work. on to complete a Fine Art Diploma in Sculpture from the City and Guilds School in London where SPECIAL PRESENTATION SPECIAL there was the main emphasis was on drawing and sculpting the figure. Caroline then went to Camberwell School of Art and Design in London where she achieved a ce- ramics degree. She taught fine art for several years at Skylight London and the City Literary Institute in London. She has had a solo ceramic exhibition in Ireland Link for the Lavender Lodge https://www.facebook.com/Rupkite/ SPECIAL PRESENTATION

Of the land series, Black and white photo of a friend of mine grape picking this Summer near Rupkite, 29x40 cm

Of the land series, Black and white photograph of a grape picker, working near Rupkite 34n24 cm 25

In the Moment, Study of hens using natural inks and washes mounted on aluminum, 42x30 cm

CAROLINE HARTE, Ireland , thanking Georgi for the special presentation Opening reception - the Painting Installation of Bulgarian artist Marianna Gancheva from the National Radio interviewing Alicja Yordan Kissiov - Featured Artist

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Alicja ans Elmar SPECIAL PRESENTATION

Elmar Peintner and Dimo Kolibarov Elmar Peintner in the studio of Prof, Ivailo Mirchev at the Art Academy

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Visiting artists in the Printmaking studio of the Art Academy SPECIAL PRESENTATION education of society. Institute of Music conducts researches on music education, musical culture and art therapy in education. FACULTY OF ARTS The Institute of Fine Arts consists of several depart- MARIA CURIE SKŁODOWSKA UNIVERSITY ments: Department of Graphic Design, Department in Lublin, Poland of Relief Printmaking, Department of Intaglio and Address: al. Kraśnicka 2a, 20-718 Lublin, Poland, Experimental Printmaking, Department of Digital www.artystyczny.umcs.lublin.pl Media Arts, Department of Painting I, Department of Painting II, Department of Painting and Draw- ing I, Department of Painting and Drawing II, De- DEAN OF FACULTY OF ARTS partment of Intermedia and Drawing, Department prof. dr hab. Krzysztof Szymanowicz of Sculpture and Ceramics, Department of Visual Knowledge, Department of Art Education, Depart- ASSOCIATE DEAN FOR STUDENT AND EDUCA- ment of Art History. There are 73 lecturers in all TIONAL AFFAIRS departments and 400 students attending advanced dr hab. Alicja Snoch-Pawłowska courses: 5-years Master of Fine Arts Programme 28 in Graphic Arts, 5-years Master of Fine Arts Pro- ASSOCIATE DEAN FOR ART AND RESEARCH gramme in Painting, 3-years BA Programme in Art dr Anna Beata Barańska Education, 2-years Master of Fine Arts Programme in Art Education. The Faculty of Arts of the Maria Curie Skłodowska The Faculty of Arts welcomes international stu- University in Lublin, established in 1997, has over dents for 2-years Master of Fine Arts Programme forty years history of art studies, previously as the in Graphic Arts conducted in English. Institute of Art Education. Nowadays the Faculty The Faculty has attracted many eminent artists comprises of the Institute of Fine Arts and the In- and teachers. Especially noteworthy among them stitute of Music. is group of internationally recognized graphic art- SPECIAL PRESENTATION SPECIAL The Institute of Fine Arts focuses on the use of ists: Krzysztof Szymanowicz, Grzegorz D. Mazurek, artistic techniques in education and visual advertis- Artur Popek, Karol Pomykała and famous for his ing, combining the techniques of classical fine arts international intermedia achievements Robert with the latest technologies and scientific analysis Kuśmirowski. The Faculty of Arts is engaged in ar- of modern art. It also conducts researches cov- tistic exchange with prestigious fine arts schools ering new technologies in painting, graphic art, and artistic universities, cultural institutions and ar- graphic design, sculpture, ceramics and ecologi- tistic associations all over the world by organizing cal tendencies in fine arts activities as well as art collective and individual exhibitions. The Faculty co- operates with many cultural institutions and is dis- dent Poster Biennale and now it is regular event tinctly present on Lublin’s cultural map. The teach- presenting contemporary achievements of artists ers and students actively participate in the cultural in the field of posters. All editions of the Biennale life of the city. They are also involved in carrying were followed by the post-competition exhibitions out many art projects. These include the Art Festi- showing hundreds of posters by authors from Eu- val “Days of Clay and Fire” comprising lectures and rope, Asia, North and South Americas. shows of ceramics-firing technique, art workshops In order to strengthen ties with the local communi- during “The University Festival of Science”, cycle ties the Faculty offers workshops, meetings, out- exhibitions “The Month of Graphic Art” presenting door painting, graphic-art, sculpture, photography, SPECIAL PRESENTATION graphic artists from art academies and schools in computer animation and intermedia workshops for Poland and international show “On the Paper”. The different social and age groups. The Faculty of Arts Faculty is also co-organizer of important cultural of UMCS actively responds to modern-day chal- events in Lublin: the International Poster Biennale lenges by constantly broadening their artistic and and the East Salon of Art. The International Poster promotional activities. Biennale started in 2013 as the International Stu-

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Artists - students from MARIA CURIE SKŁODOWSKA UNIVERSITY HANNA POPRUHA, KAMIL JERZYK, KATARZYNA WOLCZYNSKA, KINGA LEWICKA, RENATA GOGOL, TOMASZ BELEW HANNA POPRUHA, Ukraine, Aquarium II, 2018, Etching, Watercolor, 10x10 cm

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KAMIL JERZYK, Poland, Adam and Eva, 2018, Drawing, 10x10 cm SPECIAL PRESENTATION SPECIAL

KATARZYNA WOLCZYNSKA, Poland, HEAR-NO-EVIL KID, 2018, Dry Point, Digital Background, 12x12 cm KINGA LEWICKA, Poland, Yellow Energy, 2018, Etching, Digital Print, 15x10 cm SPECIAL PRESENTATION

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RENATA GOGOL, Poland, Present, 2018, Linocut, Digital Background, 12x7,8 cm

TOMASZ BELEW, Poland, Timeline V, 2018, Linocut, Digital Print, 8,5x7,5 cm Dinner with visiting artists after the opening reception in restaurant TOHUN

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Opening reception – Georgi talking with the art critic Ralitza Basaitova Elmar with Austrian writer Robert Menasse signing his book The Capital at the Book fair in Sofia Dec 15 SPECIAL PRESENTATION

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Visiting artists in the printmaking studio of the Art Academy Contemporary Printmaking from Ireland back to about 1993. The macro event of this year November 1 – November 25, 2018 was the creation of a new government Department for Arts and Culture (its first minister was Michael D Higgins who is now President of Ireland). The In a cooperation with Leinster Printmaking Studio micro event took place in two neighbouring small towns 40km west of Dublin, where a supervisor of The Times, Attitudes, Atmosphere and Events a scheme to assist the long-term unemployed in of the Leinster Printmaking Studio (LPS) Prosperous (herself a director of amateur drama) sought out Margaret Becker of Clane (an estab- [The form of this title is taken from R J Crampton’s lished visual artist in stained glass and printmaking) Concise History of Bulgaria 2nd Edition p.103 foot- to train one of her charges. While an approach to note, CUP, where he explains the meaning of the the Arts Council under the Minister proved fruitless, suffix:‘-shtina’ in the Bulgarian language] Margaret formed a relationship with the European Leader Programme to support enterprises (in Kil- The Times of the Leinster Printmaking Studio: dare called KELT); she found premises on the Main Street in the old Girls’ Primary School; and she lent The LPS was incorporated as a not-for-profit com- her own printing press. Later on the County Coun- 34 pany in 1998, but the idea from which it sprang goes SPECIAL PRESENTATION SPECIAL

Melissa Cherry, Katherine Smits and Pamela de Bri with the Ambassador of Ireland H.E. Michael Forbes and Georgi Lessedra cils of Ireland were given funds, and a mission to other print studios (around all of Ireland and one stu- promote the arts in each county, under the Arts Act dio in Wales), some chosen printmakers, and group of 2003 and a reciprocally productive relationship exhibitions at home and abroad; and in the second has developed since then between the LPS and the instance in the community: with taster classes for Kildare County Arts Officer, Lucina Russell. children in their own schools and in the studio itself, open days, and introduction classes for adults and The Attitudes of the Leinster Printmaking Studio: prospective full members. LPS’s attitude with the funding organisations has been one of independent The LPS formal attitude is compliance with the rules action, close communication and much apprecia- SPECIAL PRESENTATION for companies, in particular companies limited by tion from these bodies for fulfilling their own goals. guarantee without share capital, for retaining chari- The studio runs smoothly and grows organically. table status with the Revenue Commissioners and The good working relationships of the studio with its for conferring a tax advantage on certain sponsors members, funders, landlord, visiting artists, exhibi- (though this was little used in practice). tion venues and suppliers reflect the manager who, The LPS informal attitude is to be outgoing and co- from the beginning, has been Margaret Becker. operative, in the first instance professionally: with

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Opening reception Artists and Ambassador

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The Atmosphere of the Leinster Printmaking Studio: ing, working & inking benches, six printing presses, etching tanks, resin box, photoprinter, dark room Margaret has brought to the LPS the best of oth- and screenprinter,), space for supplies of plates, er Irish printmaking co-operatives, particularly the paper, inks, tools and personal items and needs Graphic Studio Dublin (GSD), which she joined in and artists’ lockers. its first decade, when it was a uniquely independ- The personal atmosphere is uncritical and support- ent, democratic and convivial body of artists, oper- ive; the standard of work has forged ahead; the de-

SPECIAL PRESENTATION SPECIAL ating in a country that was new to prints. She also velopment of facilities has been driven by the art- reached out to the Seacourt Print Studio in Bangor, ists; sourcing of materials in bulk is optimum; and Co. Down, Northern Ireland, a ‘safe’ studio, a way of working standards seldom allowed to slide in an working with more benign etching acids, which she atmosphere of vigilant surveillance, and subtle and adopted for the LPS. The organisational atmos- swift correction. As it has turned out, the gender phere is professional: a signing-in book, notices for balance is in favour of women and it would be fair the various hazards and procedures, spaces as- to say that the quiet and productive atmosphere is signed for conversation, kitchen and each printing a reflection of that balance. process (layout table, paper wetting drying & press- The Events of the Leinster Printmaking Studio: – in deference to the location of the studio in the old Bord na Mona headquarters; the third was a One sequence of events is the six locations of the Welsh collaboration with Ceile; the fourth on small studio: the old Girls’ Primary School, the Science anecdotes of the 1916 rebellion in Ireland; and the room of the old Top school (a one-year proto-sec- current one being inspired by the Twentieth Anni- ondary school), two-storey yard building behind versary of the Incorporation of the studio in 1998. Marron’s Pharmacy, the enterprise complex in the The initial incorporation was with the statutory old Bord na Mona headquarters in Allenwood, back seven subscribers who were chosen to give the SPECIAL PRESENTATION to different premises in Marron’s Court and finally company heft: an artist, an engineer, a barrister, a the whole of the Top school which was refurbished framer, an art gallery owner, an adult education su- specially for the studio by the new landlord. pervisor and a community employment supervisor. Another sequence of events is the Exhibitions: This structure was not maintained and, for some studio-managed and externally curated. The early time now, the board has been composed of work- ones were of the current work of members; since ing members of the studio. then they have been themed on an agreed top- ic: the first theme was the links between Indian Michael Peart & Celtic mythology; the second was the Irish bog 37

The Ambassador of Ireland H. E. Michael Forbes is pleased to meet Maurice Ward Group representatives in Sofia, Country Manager Boryana Atanasova ALICE HANRATTY, FROM THE BOG, 2008, Etching, 39,5x59 cm

ALICE BERESFORD, 38 MAP OF IRELAND II, 2016, Screen Print, 76x36 cm SPECIAL PRESENTATION SPECIAL

ADRIENE SYMES, BOG SECRET II, 2008, Etching, 40x30 cm AMELIA PEART, THE HIGH POETS ARE GONE, 2008, Etching, 64x64 cm SPECIAL PRESENTATION

BETHAN HODGESON, STACK, 2008, Dry Point, Carborundum, 49x71 cm

39 ANDREW KITTY, FROM ABOVE, 2018, DRY POINT, 52x40 cm

CATHERINE MANN, BLUE BOG, 2008, Etching, 40x49 cm DEIDRE SHANELY,TURF CUTTING, 2008, Carborundum, Etching, 40x58 cm EILEEN KEANE, SONG OF THE BOG, 2008, Photo Etching, Collage, 40x50 cm

DON BRAISBY, SET FREE, 2016, Etching, Screen Print, 57x60 cm

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GAY O’NEILL, THE PEACE, 2018, Etching, 56x47 cm GERALDINE O’REILLY, MILLED PEAT, 2008, Photo Etching, 39,5x37,5 cm SPECIAL PRESENTATION

HILARY KINAWAN, UNTITLED, 2018, Dry Point, 70x100 cm

FELICITY MACARTAN, WATERLOGGED, 2008, Etching, 48x49 cm

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JEAN DILLON CUV I, 2008, Carborundum, 44x65 cm

JAMES MACREARY, NIGHT FLYING TO JOSIE MACMORRIN, FROM THE DESERTED VILLAGE ACHILL, PORTILLGAT, 2018, 2018, Etching, 51x34 cm Mezzotint, 30x39 cm KATHERINE SMITS, BOG II, 2008, Carborundum, 40 x 56 cm

LIAM O’ BRION, CUIRT ON…, 2018, Lithograph, 64x64 cm

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MARGARET BECKER, TURF CUTTER, 2008, Etching, 40x70 cm SPECIAL PRESENTATION SPECIAL

JILL MAKEOWAN FLOATING BEDS & BOUGHS, 2008, Photo Etching, 39x25 cm JOHNATHAN MACANN,BOG ELK, 2008, Dry Point, 40x61 cm SPECIAL PRESENTATION

MELISSA CHERRY, POOLBEG STACKS, 2008, Dry Point, 30x40 cm

KATIE WALSH, MEMORY, 2018, Dry Point, 40x30 cm 43

MARGARET TUFFY, ALTO SPACE, 2008, Etching, 40x52 cm MARY MCGRATH, KERRY BOG PONY, 2018, Dry Point, 51x41 cm ROZ LONGWILL, ALLEN, 2018, Dry Point, 44x64 cm

PETER JONES, UNTITLED, 2008, Photo Etching, 62x63 cm

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MICHELE SWEETMAN, BOG SHANDAED, 2008, Carborundum, Dry Point, 49x69 cm SPECIAL PRESENTATION SPECIAL

PAULA FITZPATRICK, FABRIC, 2010, Etching (Soft Ground), 64x40 cm PAMELA DE BRI, CAISLEAIN MOMA, 2008, Carborundum, Collagraph, 42x71 cm SPECIAL PRESENTATION

MO MONTGOMERY, BOG ELEMENTS, 2008, Carborundum, Dry Point, 40x58 cm

TOM MACKEN, MISE RAITIRE FILE, 2008, Woodcut, 64x64 cm

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PAUL ROY, HE CARRIED HISWHOLE WORLD ACROSS BORDERS, 2018, Etching, 39x29 cm SILVIA HEMMINGWAY, FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION I, 2008, Etching, 40x49 cm ADAM CZECH, Poland ADRIAN CAYZ, Poland

INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS

Reflected in the Olza 2, 2018, Mixed Media, 14x7,3 cm Nature IV, 2017, CAD, 10x7,5 cm AGNIESZKA JAWORSKA, Poland AIDA STOLAR, Israel AKIRA TOKUDA, Japan

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Spiders on the Net, 2018, Floral Session 03, 2017, Photograph, 15x10 cm 2 Plates, Collagraph and Dry Point, 15x15 cm Heart Moving – B1, 2018, Mixed Media, 15x15 cm AKSEN KACHIRIN, Russia ALEKSI JOENSUU, Finland ALENA SEMCHYSHYN, Belarus INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS INTERNATIONAL

The Cry of my Soul, 2018, Pencil Drawing, 10x10 cm Castle, 2018, White Gouache, 9x13 cm The Evening, 2018, Mixed Media, 11,7x14,3 cm ALEXANDER SINIOSSOGLOU, Greece ALEXANDRU JAKABHAZI, Romania AMARYLLIS SINIOSSOGLOU, Greece INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS

Blue Windows, 2018, Watercolor, 14x14 cm Dialogue, 2018, Digital Art, 15x15 cm Landscape III, 2018, Watercolor, 14x14 cm ANDREY VILESIK, Russia ANETA GLOWACKA, Poland ANNA WAJDA, Poland

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I, 2013, Drawing on Paper, 9x14 cm The Greatest Memories II, 2018, Game Glass, 15x15 cm Scars-Forgiveness, 2017, Etching, Gilding, 11x11 cm ANTHONY PESSLER, U. S. A. BE LAMBERTS, The Netherlands BILL SKRIPS, U. S. A.

Loner, 2018, Linoleum, Tin, Cloth, Carved Wood, Eve #3, 2018, Graphite, 15x15 cm Amorf-ish, 2018, Inkjet Print, 10x14,8 cm Screws, 14,3x14,3 x 4,5 BIRGIT KIRKE, Denmark BIRGITTA HALLBERG, Sweden BONNIE HELM – NORTHOVER, Canada

I was here III, 2018, Drawing It` s not my Fault, (Lithographic Chalk on Paper0, 14,8x11 cm Reflect I, 2018, Mixed Media, 15x15 cm 2018, Ink and Watercolor on Paper, 15x15 cm CHLOE DEE NOBLE, U. S. A. CRISTINA LISBOA, Brazil D. KALININA, Russia

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Parks of Paris Installation, created 2018, Portuguese Tile I, 2018, Acrylic on Canvas, wearable art, purse, scarf, pillow case, size variable Brush and Spatula, 15x15 cm TOTORO, 2018, Pencil Drawing, 10x10 cm DAGRUN LEMSTAD FINSRUD, Norway DAN McCORMACK, U. S. A. DANIEL GARCIA ANDERSSON, Spain INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS INTERNATIONAL

Anna_H_08-06-18—03AD, 2018, Pinhole Towards the End, 2018, Mono Print, 15x15 cm Camera, Archival Pigment Print, 15x15 cm Spanish Bull, 2018, Oil on Card Board, 15x15 cm DANIL ARAKHEEV, Russia DEBBIE LEE, England DIANA SMIRNOVA, Russia INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS

Path of Life, 2018, Drawing on Paper, 10x10 cm Oyster Girl, 2018, Oil on Aluminum, 14,5x10,5 cm Opus I, 2018, Drawing on Paper, 10x10 cm DIANE HATHCOCK, U. S. A. ELINA AUTIO, Finland ELISABETH JOBIN – SANGLARD, Switzerland

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MIGRATION-2018, 2018, Private Property, paper pulps added with acrylic green pigments, nail polish of different colors, white cor- Late Afternoon in Alabama, 2018, Oil on Wood, 13x13 cm Origin 2, 2018, Monotype, Diameter 13 cm rective pen, red and blue waterproof pen on canvas, 15x15 cm FABIENNE BURDET – ICHTCHENKO, France FEDOR KOLCOV, Russia FELIPE CORTES REYES, Mexico

From Polaroid to Numerique No 3, 2018, Collage, 15x15 cm Beginning of Everything, 2018, Pencil Drawing, 10x10 cm GEO METRIA I, 2018, Monotype, Assemblage, 15x15 cm FLORENCE CHAPUIS, France FREDI P. BÜCHELL, Switzerland GALLE WINSTON KOFI DAWSON, Ghana

Minerals II, 2018, Collage, Print, 12x12 cm Magic tree, 2018, Linocut, multi block (3 colors), 15x15 cm Nohanoha, 2017, Watercolor, 15x15 cm GERALD HUSHLAK, Canada HANNA GRZONKA – KARWACKA, Poland HARUKA MITSUSHI, Japan

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From the Cycle Nothing happens twice 3, Election Tears, 2018, Giclee on Somerset, 15x15 cm 2018, Digital Print, Silkscreen, 15x15 cm Flowering, 2018, Dry Point, Ganpi Print, 8,8x8,8 cm HAYA ROZIC, Israel HEINZ ALLEMANN, Switzerland HILDA KIESERITZKY, Germany INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS INTERNATIONAL

Storm, 2018, Mixed Media, 9x9 cm Angel II, 2018, C-Print, 13x11,8 cm Deep Ocean II, 2018, Monotype on Paper, 14,5x14,5 cm HULDA HREINDAL SIGURDARDOTTIR, Iceland INGA-MAJ VON MÜHLENFELS, Sweden JAN WELLENS, Belgium INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS

High – Form, 2018, Water soluble wax pastels and felt pens on bits of strip curtains and floppy disks, 9x9 cm Skyscrapers II, 2018. Acrylic, 15x15 cm On Holiday, 2018, Watercolor and Ink on Paper, 15x15 cm JEAN TOPAZZINI, France JEAN-JACQUES LECOQ, France JEETA LAKSHMITA, Mauritius

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Urban Tribes III, 2005/2018, Ink Jet Print, 14,9x12,2 cm Regarde ou tu marches, 2010, Chinese Ink, 10x14 cm Trapped in Illusion, 2018, Pen and Ink with Acrylic, 15x15 cm JERZY GORBAS, Poland JOSEE WUYTS AND FRANS DE GROOT, JORGE LUIS PATO, Argentina The Netherlands

Essay I (from the cycle Adverbial Essays), 2018, Dry Point Self Portrait with Hand, 2018, Pencil, 15x13 cm Figure, 2018 Drawing, 14x14 cm with manual addition over Acrylic plate, 10x10 cm JOSINA VAN AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands JOZEF KNOPEK, Poland JULIA PAYNE, U. S. A.

Young Florence 1890, 2018, Handmade Papers, Encaustic, Untitled II, 2018, Acrylic on Canvas, 15x15 cm Looking for Arcadia 3, 2018, Copperplate Print,15x15 cm Waxen Rice Paper, Charcoal, Acrylic, 14x14 cm JUSSARA PIRES, Brazil JUTTA UHDE, Germany KATARZYNA HANDZLIK, Poland

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Surreal, 2018, Acrylic on Canvas, 21x16 cm Untitled I, 2018, Photo Collage, 15x10 cm Exlibris Jacek Proszyk (J.P.), 2018, Digital Print, 15x15 cm KATARZYNA PYKA, Poland KATHIE PETTERSSON, Sweden KAZUKO KIDO, Japan INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS INTERNATIONAL

Curtain I, 2018, Glass, Metal, 11x9 cm Blue Sky, 2018, Etching, 4,5x4,5 cm Memories III, 2018, Collage, 15x13,7 cm KEN CHARON, U. S. A. KINICHI MAKI, Japan KIRSTI GROTMOL, Norway INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS

Beautiful Power Supply Network 2, 2018, To become Friends 2, 2018, Ink and Silver The Artist` s Eye, 2018, Acrylic on Hard Board, 9x12,5 cm Digital Print, 11,7x15 cm on Handmade Paper, 15x15 cm KLAUS GROH, Germany KRZYSZTOF MAREK BAK, Poland KRZYSZTOF PASZTULA, Poland

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Opus 1356 Lion in series The greyhound and the lion ES GIBT VIEL, 2018, Collage, 15x15 cm by James Kruss, 2018, Digital Print, 15x15 cm Bow, 2018, Digital Print, 9,7x6 cm KSENIA DOLGOVA, Russia KSENYA LUTCEVA, Russia KURT RIES, Germany

My Thought, 2018, Pencil Drawing, 10x10 cm Dawn at the Shore, 2018, Pastel on Paper, 10x10 cm Vague Memory III, 2018, Mixed Media, 15x10 cm LADISLAU FREITAS, Portugal LARS VILHELMSEN, Denmark LENA JOHANSSON FAHLEN, Sweden

The living room with table cloth, Untitled, 2018, Oil on Canvas on Board, 15x15 cm 2018, Photograph, 15x16 cm The Spirit of the Forest II, 2018, Watercolor, 15x14 cm LINDSEY GRAHAM, England LISA GRAHAM, U. S. A. LIV KREKKE KAADA, Norway

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Gold Below, 2018, Enhanced Collagraph, Diameter 10,5 cm Mercury in Green, 2018, Digital Print, 8,5x12 cm Composition B, 2018, Collage, Print, 7,5x8,5 cm LOUBNA KOTBI, Morocco LOUISE GROSE, England LUKASZ CYWICKI, Poland INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS INTERNATIONAL

Pickting Olive Peace 1, 2018, Art Photography on Paper, size variable Rock, 2018, Monotype with Gold Leaf, 14,5x14,5 cm Person of Time -41, 2018, Linocut, 10x10 cm MAGDALENA CYWICKA, Poland MARCELLE BENHAMOU, France MAREK GLOWACKI, Poland INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS

Landscape Found-V, 2018, Painting, Collage, 12x12 cm Le pays de l`autre 3, 2018, Roller Pan on Map, 15x15 cm Angry Faces – Pleasure, 2018, Ecolin, Pen, Graphite, 15x15 cm MARIA AMSJOE, Sweden MARIE – ANGE ACKAD, Canada MARTHA WHITTEMORE, U. S. A.

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Memories from Kindergarten: Flannel Board, 2018, Collage, 15x15 cm My World, 2018, Pigment, Oil, Inkjet on Canvas, 12,3x12,3 cm Wanderlust # 1, 2018, Collage, 10x10 cm MARTINA DENIJS, Belgium MARY FARRELL, U. S. A. MARY WIER, U. S. A.

A Woman` s Gown, 2018, Ceramic Glazed, 16 x 11x11 cm Migration # 7, 2018, Monotype, 15x15 cm From Mama` s Garden, 2018, Oil on Cardboard, 12,7x12,7 cm MATT MITROS AND SYDNEY EWERTH, U. S. A. MAUD PROBST – RÖNNBOM, Sweden MICHELINE COUTURE, Canada

The Curtain, 2018, Photo based Graphic, Untitled I, 2018, Mixed Media, 15x15 cm FP Engraving, 19,8x12 cm Courir, 2018, Numerical Print, 9,5x11,5 cm MIIA ROSENIUS, Finland MIMI SHAPIRO, U. S. A. MIRIAM LIBHABER, Mexico

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Heijaste II, 2017, Mixed Media, 5x5x2 cm It is all Landscape, 2018, Mixed Media, 17,5x15,5 cm MOON SHADOW, 2018, Mixed Media, 15x15 cm MOJCA PERSE, Slovenia MONIQUE VAES, The Netherlands NICOL RODRIGUEZ, The Netherlands/France INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS INTERNATIONAL

Second Life of Film – Illusion 2, 2018, Mixed Media, Collage, 10x10 cm Music, 2018, Photograph, Color Pencil, 15x15 cm Phase No 3, 2018, Mixed Media, 7x10 cm PÁL CSABA, Hungary PATRYCJA GODULA, Poland PAULINA POCZETA, Poland INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS

Dream Book 3, From the Cycle A Welcome Portrait, Whole Section 01, 2018, Collage, Mixed Media, 15x15 cm City of the Future, 2018, Linocut, 10x13 cm 2018, Own Mixed Media, 13x13 cm PIA GRAESBOLL OTTESEN, Denmark R. PROST, U. S. A. RAGNHILD ARNEBERG, Norway

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Mushrooms on the Sletten, 2018, Linocut and Ink, 13,5x14,7 cm Clouds, 2018, Lettering on Paper, 15x15 cm Silk Mask, 2018, Watercolor and Embroidery, 14x14 cm RAIMO LEHTOMAA, Finland RAVI BEEKHARRY, Mauritius RITVA LINDBERG, Finland

My Time 2, 2018, Ink on Paper, 15x15 cm Lagoon, 2018, Mixed Media, 14,5x14,5 cm Imminent, 2018, Watercolor and Gouache, 15x15 cm ROMUALDA (ROMA) PILITSIDIS, Poland RUTH HENKEL, The Netherlands SAIDA EL KIYALE, Morocco

Blue, 2018, Oil on Canvas, 15x15 cm Chinese Daydream, 2018, Mixed Media, 10x10 cm HOPE, 2018, Mixed Media on Canvas, size variable SARA WAISBURD, Mexico SHOKO TAKEDA, Japan SOLANGE KOWALEWSKI, France

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EL PINTO, 2018, Mixed Media, 15x15 cm Man, 2018, Woodcut, Lithograph, 15x15 cm In the Day, 2018, Ink, Print, Collage, 15x15 cm STEVE BABBITT, U. S. A. TELEMACHOS PILITSIDIS, Poland TIINA SALO – DEVRIES, Finland INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS INTERNATIONAL

Land and Sky, 2018, Photograph, 15x15 cm Transformation II, 2018, Oil on Canvas on Cardboard, 15x15 cm Abstract Flow 3, 2018, Acrylic on Canvas, 25x15 cm TORSTEN PAUL, Germany TROND E. S. INDSETVIKEN, Norway VANGEL SRNAKOV, Macedonia INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS

Mapping of the Female Body, 2017, Oil on Canvas Boats II, 2018, Oil on Canvas, 15x15 cm In the Woods – Elder, 2018, Watercolor, 14x9,5 cm on Board, 3x15x15 cm WALTRAUD HESCHL, Austria WOLFGANG LIEBELT, Germany YASUFUMI TAKANO, Japan

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Amorphous Form III1, 2018, Acrylic on Canvas Uprooting, 2018, Acrylic on Canvas, 15x15 cm Board, White and Black felt pen, 15x15 cm Unstable Coda II, 2017, Photograph, 14x9,5 cm YASUYUKI UZAWA, Japan YELENA KUKHARENKO, U. S. A. YOICHI FUJITA, Japan

Yatugatake, Utskushimori, 2018, Acrylic and Pigments Take a Walk-3, 2017, Watercolor, Collage, 10x14,8 cm Composition # 7, 2018, Acrylic on Wooden Panel, 15x15 cm on Canvas over Board, 15x15 cm YOSHINORI AKAZAWA, Japan YOUSIF ABADI, Iraq YOZO SANO, Japan

Usual Daily Occupations 2, 2018, Mixed Media, £ NASU, 2018. Ink on Paper, 25x15 cm Wood, 15x9x2,5 cm Element-63 Digital, 2018, Print,Washi,on wood boad 15x15 cm YUTTHANA NIMGATE, Thailand ZARKO VREZEC, Slovenia

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Hanging Landscape 3, 2018, Acrylic, My-From-Folk, 2018, Color Pencil, 15x15 cm Pencil, Collage – Paper, 15x7,8 cm INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS INTERNATIONAL Alicja with artists – students at the Art Faculty of Sofia University SPECIAL PRESENTATION

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Alicja and Snezhina talking about further projects

Elmar at the Art Faculty of Sofia University ALEKSANDRA DIMITROVA, Bulgaria ANNA TZOLOVSKA, Bulgaria

BULGARIAN ARTISTS

Fog II, 2018, Pigment Transfer, 16x14 cm Sainte-Chapelle 2, 2018, Mixed Media, 15x15 cm AVRAM DIMITROV, Bulgaria BORYANA CHAPAROVA, Bulgaria BORYANA RUSSENOVA – INA, Bulgaria

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Change of Mood II, 2018, Mixed Media Binary Code 2, 2018, 14x11 cm on Canvas on Cardboard, 15x15 cm Together II, 2018, Graphite on Yupo, 15x15 cm CHRISTOPHOR KRUSTEV, Bulgaria IVAN BACHVAROV, Bulgaria KRASIMIRA DRENSKA, Bulgaria BULGARIAN ARTISTS BULGARIAN

Collage I, 2018, Mixed Media, 15x15 cm Happy II, 2018, Etching, 14,5x12,8 cm Mystical II, 2018, Handmade Paper, Mixed Media, 15x13x6 cm MAYA ANTOVA – MAYOTO, Bulgaria MEDEA YANKOVA, Bulgaria NATASHA BALABANOVA, Bulgaria BULGARIAN ARTISTS

Life, 2018, CGD, 9x14 cm Mini Jazz Series III, 2018, Watercolor, 13x13 cm Experiment III, 2018, Watercolor, 15x15 cm NIKOLAY ZLATANOV, Bulgaria PAOLINA GANCHEVA, Bulgaria REGINA DALKALACHEVA, Bulgaria

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A Mirror with Three Faces, 2018, Deviation, 2018, Walnut Tree, 24x9x9 cm Mixed Media on Canvas, 15x15 cm Still Life II, 2018, DGD, Toner Transfer on Paper, 10x13,3 cm ROZA BRENEISEN, Bulgaria SNEZHINA BISSEROVA, Bulgaria TATIANA HARIZANOVA, Bulgaria

Nicely Fallen, 2017, Graphite Drawing, 11.5x7 cm Angel` s Shadow III, 2018, Toner Transfer on Paper, 14x10 cm Different, 2018, Oil on Canvas, Triptych, Part 3, 3x20x20 cm TSVETA PETROVA, Bulgaria VENTZISLAV DIKOV, Bulgaria VIOLETA APOSTOLOVA, Bulgaria

In Motion I, 2018, Collage, 14x14 cm Multiplerealities, 2017, Acrylic on Cardboard, 20x20 cm Without Identity III, 2018, Digital Print, 13x14 cm

64 BULGARIAN ARTISTS BULGARIAN

Natasha Balabanova (in the middle) with friends by the opening reception Josina van Amsterdam looking at her works in the exhibition SPECIAL PRESENTATION

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Josina van Amsterdam from the Netherlands with husband Kees visited Lessedra on February 22 Josina is impressed by the old history of Sofia-Serdica.

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Josina with husband Kees in front of the rotunda church Saint George, built by the Romans in the 4th century, it is considered the oldest building in Sofia www.lessedra.com